Liberation: The Bitter Road to Freedom by William I Hitchcock

Readers today know that attempts to end tyranny invariably bring atrocities of their own. But still, for many the word "liberation" summons images of US soldiers handing out Hershey's to grateful French civilians. Hitchcock's remarkable history revisits the period 1944-45, giving voice to those who discovered that the behaviour of British, American and Russian liberators was seldom as virtuous as the cause for which they fought. Hitchcock is a fine storyteller and a skilful editor, choosing memorable and often disturbing examples: a lone white ox is eaten alive by starving Berliners; Glasgow Highlanders are billeted with a Belgian family still mourning the loss of sons killed not by the enemy, but by an RAF bomb.